OREANDA-NEWS. On May 14, 2007 the 9th Arbitration Appeal Court confirmed validity of decision and determinations of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) on the case against "Megaphon" OJSC (concerted actions of cellular operators), reported the press-centre of  FAS Russia. 


The case proceedings involved "VympelCom" OJSC and "MTS" OJSC as well as the Association of Regional Mobile Service Providers. Earlier FAS Russia found that "VympelCom", "MTS" and "Megaphon" breached Article 6 of the Law "On Competition and Restricting Monopolistic Activity on the Goods Markets". At the same time, the FAS Russia Commission terminated proceedings against "VympelCom"and "MTS" due to voluntary elimination of the breach. "Megaphon" was requested to eliminate the consequences of the breach of the antimonopoly legislation.


The case was initiated following the petition of the Association of Regional Mobile Service Providers. According to the information obtained by FAS Russia, the Big Three operators set the rates for zone call termination in their network for co-opearintg mobile operators at 1.10 Rubles without VAT. At the same time, the operators of "VympelCom", "MTS" and "Megaphon" groups agreed to fix the price for the above service at 0,95 Rubles. For the same volume of traffic within the Big Three networks, a "calling" operator should pay 16% less than a "calling" operator of any other network.


FAS Russia reckoned that if the mutual payments were made according to the above rates, the operators outside the Big Three would be forced to reconsider their pricing policy and stop offering attractive inexpensive packages - the niche which constitutes the main competitive advantage of regional operators. Therefore, regional mobile communication providers could be discriminated in comparison with the federal operators, which is inadmissible under the antimonopoly legislation.

"Megaphon" disagreed with the decision of the antimonopoly authority and appealed. The Moscow Arbitration Court dismissed the "Megaphon" claim to recognize invalidity of the FAS Russia's decision. The 9th Arbitration Appeal Court also dismissed the appeal of "Megaphon" and sustained the ruling passed by the court of first instance.